- November 8, 2026 Sermon
The Rev. Joseph Farnes
All Saints, Boise
Proper 27A
“Keep awake! You know neither the day nor the hour!”
As we near the end of the church’s liturgical calendar (Advent is right around the corner!) we get a lot more of the unsettling, apocalyptic readings from the Bible. If you’re in the practice of Morning and Evening Prayer, you’ve been getting readings from the Book of Revelation. Today we get the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids, and Paul encouraging us to be hopeful because Jesus will get back and we’ll all be swept up into paradise to be with him.
Good times, good times.
We as moderns have a lot of baggage with apocalyptic literature. There are Christians who have wasted countless hours trying to calculate when Jesus might show up – for some reason, Biblical fundamentalists seem to ignore what Jesus literally says here about not knowing the day nor the hour. There are Christians who have made careers of scaremongering, who have made every tragedy into a sign of God’s judgment.
And for another big chunk of us who call ourselves Christians, we might want to jettison this stuff entirely. It’s not out of line to feel a little unsure about all this apocalyptic stuff – early Christian leaders also had their own issues with some of these texts, too.
I’m generally fine with apocalyptic literature in the Bible. It’s emphasizing our need to be watchful and to not lose hope that God loves us and will care for us, even if the world should fall apart or be under the thumb of forces of hate.
But the hesitation I have with Jesus’ parable today comes from a different direction. The parable praises the wise bridesmaids who have said, “Well, if you don’t have oil, it’s your fault, go buy some, not our problem.”
Something hits me in that. I think of our culture where there’s always a looking for where to place blame and deflect responsibility.
“Oh, the homeless? Well if they’d not be lazy, not do drugs, if they’d planned better, then they’d not be in that situation. Not that I care enough to find out why they’re homeless – it’s still somehow their fault. Not my responsibility to care for them. Let’s criminalize them camping on public property, too.”
“Oh, the single parent struggling to find a job that can pay enough for rent and food? Well guess they should’ve planned differently. Not my responsibility to ensure they get paid a living wage, and sure not my responsibility to fund school programs so a parent can work. Not that we realized how much we depend on schools to provide care for children during COVID when schools were closed and some parents were forced to be at work as ‘essential workers.’.”
“Oh, the college graduate saddled with debt because state universities are underfunded and administration squeezes every drop of loan money they can? Well I guess they should have foreseen that a few years in the future AI would disrupt the entire economy and displace workers so the rich could get richer. Too bad, so sad.”
You get my point. It’s so easy to displace the blame and write people off. If I can figure out how it might possibly be their fault, I’m free from any obligation to help. It’s their fault, it’s their problem.
It’s easy to sit with the wise bridesmaids and look over at the scrambling foolish ones. “They weren’t smart enough to bring extra oil with them, so it’s not my problem at all. I’ve got mine, I get to go to the wedding banquet, I get to go to the party, I get the celebration. Too bad, so sad for you. Better get to the store and buy some oil!”
So where do we sit with this?
Do we share our oil – even if it might not be enough? Even if the other person had a chance to do the right thing but now looks at us to save them from the consequence of their choices?
Do we hold back – they chose this mess, not us, we’ve got to put on our oxygen mask before helping others, and there isn’t enough oxygen to go around?
What do we do? Tough call, isn’t it?
Part of us wants to feel like we’d share, that we’d find a way to include everyone. Part of us hopes that someone else would help us in our hour of need, even if it were our own doing. Part of us also knows the annoyance, the frustration, the anger that would be right there when someone turns to us and puts us on the spot, to sacrifice to help them when we’re struggling ourselves.
In a way, we’re always in that kind of situation. We inherit decisions made by others. Others snatch up the oil for themselves. It might be people in power, it might be people with resources snatching up even more. It might be even our forebears who made decisions that left us with no oil in our flasks.
Perhaps there’s a second parable to tell: instead of wise bridesmaids, it’s insightful ones, and instead of foolish bridesmaids, it’s greedy ones. The greedy ones hoard the oil for themselves, and insightful bridesmaids are left to go without even if they can find a way to make the lamps shine for everyone.
You’ve probably heard my grumbling about the design of this building – how it makes no sense, how a split level makes part of our building less accessible, how it faces the wrong way from the street, how a long hallway is a nightmare for heating and navigation, how so much lawn was a terrible mistake in our Boise climate. There were some honestly foolish decisions along the way, and we get to figure out how to adapt to it.
I could spend my time grumbling even more, and yet what does that do, really?
The better question should be, will a future generation look at what we do now as foolish or wise? Will we be handing them an empty flask instead of a full flask of oil? Will we be handing them an empty flask with empty promises? Will we hand them a full flask, full of faith and hope? Will we hand them an empty flask, or will we make sure that the flask is topped off with oil, ready to use to share the light of the kingdom of God?
We face those decisions every day, really.
Do we want others to have hope, to see light?
Do we want to get our way and hoard the oil to ourselves and use it up?
Do we want to look at future generations and say, “here, put this to good use, I trust you” or do we want to look at others and say, “No, you’d waste it, I’m keeping it for myself.” What will be our guide?
If we wish to be the wise bridesmaids, we need to keep our oil ready. We need to keep our hearts and eyes alert for Jesus. The wise ones knew what they wanted – light to see God.
If we want to avoid being the foolish ones, we need to get that oil. Not for our own good use alone, but so that we are ready to share the light. We need to be ready not just for ourselves, but for generations to come.
Do we want them to have oil for their lamps? Or is our lamp the only one that matters?
Let the light shine – and let the oil be ready to give light to everyone in the house, and everyone who will one day fill this house in joy. Amen.
- October 25, 2026 Sermon
DT 34.1-12, MT 22.34-46
Gathered Up to Go Home
Father David Wettstein
Autumn is getting serious now. We slid through most of October with gradual hints of change, but there is no denying autumn is serious. So comes the Triduum this weekend; All Hallows Eve on Friday, All Saints on Saturday and All Souls Sunday.
On these days we recall those who have gone before us. The saints, the souls of our beloved ones, and there is a sense of gratitude. It is a time to give thanks for all that these people did, endured and passed on to us that gives us sense of purpose, belonging and even in this time of dark chaos, hope. This season gathers up our spirits, directs us inwards, focuses up our priorities and loves; and points us home. And it all comes wrapped up in these beautiful colors of October.
Moses was standing on top of Pisgah in the OT story from today, we don’t know what season it was, but he was being pointed home. He looked out north and west, east and south and God shows him the Promised Land. This was not his home. He was going home to God; he had done all he could do. The years piled behind him still vigorous and clear eyed, the message came “you shall not cross over”.
Moses, you have done what I called you to do, the next generation is coming to carry on. Many have mused that this seems unfair of God, I mean after all he did all this and Moses doesn’t get to the Promised Land himself. Moses was living for others.
You can hear Moses words echo across the centuries into our own: “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I am not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to the mountain. And I have seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people, will get to the Promised Land.” ~MLK Memphis, April 3, 1968
When we get to that place in our life journey when we know we are forgiven and we are loved we bless others. That is our life’s work. For some it comes early like in the memory we have of MLK. For many of us it comes when our mistakes and our triumphs become one lesson on how to live in God. We become the true self. We focus. Old lessons become new. Things get cooked down to their essence and you know what is more true, more essential, more real. That is the gift of time, the turning of the seasons –
So, love God and your neighbor. They are one and the same. As our former Bishop Brian often blessed us – there is little time, no matter how much you think you have to love your neighbor, so get out and do it – now.
This is the week to the Triduum, to open our hearts to the saints and souls of our circle, those in heaven and those among us. It is a good season to gather up our blessings and give thanks. How can you not with such a riot of beauty we live in here. With Moses and Martin let us go to the mountain top and give and bless the generations to come trusting our way home. Read Steven Charleston And this is a good week because at its end you will welcome your rector home. Treat him gently for the first few days he is back. He too has seen the promised land of retirement. He has a long way to go…bless him as he returns to you.
- October 4, 2026 Sermon
Anita Wallinger
Yesterday we celebrated St Francis of Assisi. Today is the calendar day of his feast but since it’s Sunday-the Lord’s Day-it was transferred to yesterday. St Francis is a favorite saint of many. Maybe you have a favorite saint, or your early formation did not really mention saints at all except for the eleven disciples or not putting saint in front of anyone.
In a month we will celebrate All Saints Day on November 1st. Our church’s namesake. We will sing about the saints saying we want to be one too. Do we really? Singing about the saints with the capital “S” and the saints with the little “s.” Both are important. Let’s talk first about the capital S St Francis.
Born in Assisi in 1181 or82. He was baptized Giovanni Bernadone, but nick named Francesco by his wealthy fabric merchant father who had just returned from France, which he adored.
Most accounts have Francis as the only son who became a leader amongst his wealthy young friends, spending time partying. It is also to be noted that he was teased by these same friends for his generosity to those in need, with his father’s money.
Like many rich young men of his time, he dreamed of being a knight and win glory in war. In 1202 he got his chance and joined the army of Assisi to fight the neighboring community of Perugia. Dressed in fine armor and on a war horse off he went. Perugia overwhelmed Assisi, slaughtering the poorer soldiers. Recognizing the cost of his armor Francis was spared and held for about 9 months for ransom in a damp dungeon where he contracted malaria. He returned to Assisi seriously ill. Still, he wanted to be a knight and when another army was forming, off he went in 1205.
After a few days traveling, he had a vision from God asking what he was doing for God, so he turned back. He then met a leper. Now lepers disgusted Francis, but he dismounted, kissed, and embraced the leper. He returned home where he waited in prayer and solitude to learn God’s will for him. After hearing Matt 10:7-19 ( go two by two taking no purse or second coat), he renounced his wealth. He then had a vision where Christ told him to rebuild His church. St Damiano church nearby was in ruins, so he started selling things to give to rebuild it. He took valuable and expensive cloth from his father’s business selling it and tried to give the proceeds to a local priest who refused. His father found out and hauled him in front of the bishop. Francis stripped off his clothes and threw the money in front of his father. He declared that he did not recognize Pietro Bernadone as his father but only recognized GOD. The astonished Bishop, admiring the devotion of Francis covered him with his own cloak. Francis went to Mount Subasio and began preaching to towns’ people and all he met. He was a lay preacher without a license to do so. He attracted many followers. Francis drew up a simple rule in 1209, to follow the teachings of our Lord and walk in His footsteps.
He and twelve followers went to Rome to petition Pope Innocent III to form a religious community. The Pope was reluctant, but he had a dream of Francis holding up the Church of St John Latern, this was the Pope’s church before the Vatican was built. April 16, 1210, marks the official founding of the Friars Minors as they became known. They were street preachers and not priests and had no possessions.
1212, Clare of Assisi and other young rich women renounced their wealth and with Francis’ guidance formed the second order of Franciscans, the Poor Clares. They lived in small communities serving the poor and ill. Being women, it wasn’t proper or safe to travel preaching like the Friars Minors.
Sept 1219, during a crusade, Francis and some followers crossed enemy lines to meet with Sultan al-Malik al-Kamilin in Egypt. He hoped to convert him and open the Holy places in Palestine. The Sultan was not converted but was impressed by Francis’ manner that he respected him and opened the Holy Places. He called Francis the little man.
1221 a third order of Franciscans was opened to priests and lay people who wanted to live by the principals without joining the full order. Now it was available not only to the rich but for the poor, married, and ordinary people. Notables who joined the third order were Louis 9th of France, Sir Thomas More, Dante, Michaelangelo, Franz Liszt, and Christopher Columbus.
1223 Francis participated in the First Living Nativity. He wanted to dematerialize Christmas. So, it’s not a modern problem.
The Order grew rapidly and Francis wasn’t known for being an administrator. He was removed as head of the order for his “health” by Pope Honerius III in 1224 who approved a revised rule which was more relaxed than Francis.’
Sept 17, 1224, at Mount La Verna, Francis had a vision of a seraph and after the vision faded, he was the first person with the stigmata, the five marks of Christ’s wounds on his hands, feet, and side. He tried to hide it from others. He died Oct 3 or 4,1226, blind from trachoma he contracted in the middle east. He was quickly canonized by his patron Pope Gregory III July 16,1228. This was because his poverty and simplicity rule made the powers in the church nervous. They didn’t want to give up wealth and prestige but saw how the people admired Francis so much. Pope Gregory admired him and knew if he didn’t move fast the powers would prevail and Francis would be forgotten.
Francis wrote his simple rule, letters, poems, and hymns. The most famous is “Canticle of the Sun,” where we hear Br Sun, Sr Moon. His first recorded prayer “My God and my All.”
Quotes
Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
Do few things but do them well, simple joys are holy.
A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.
It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.
The Peace prayer is attributed to him, but it was written in the 20th century. It does align with his philosophy.
Many gardens have a statue of St Francis including our memorial garden.
Nov 29, 1979, Pope John Paul II declare him Patron Saint of Ecology.
Jan 10, 2026-Jan 10, 2027, Pope Leo 14th declared the Jubilee of St Francis as it is the 800th year since his death. But don’t just regulate him to a touchy-feely saint of animals and earth. How would he had addressed the Prosperity Gospel beliefs? The church at his time was wealthy while most people lived day to day. His simple rule to give up all possessions and follow Jesus from his reading of Matthew 10 made many uncomfortable, especially priests and others in church hierarchy. Even his own father who loved him. Many of his own followers thought he was too strict with simplicity and poverty.
What would he think of our “love of Money.” Like Paul he would have seen it as a trap. We honor celebrities, watch the Rich and Famous, Francis gave it all up. His mantra, My God and my All.
What would he think of the climate crisis? He was not a vegetarian, but he saw God in all creation. He saw creation as being interconnected. He talked to wolves and birds. What do we think of that?
He was a man of prayer and vision. He did not start out to change the world, just his life and to build up the church.
Now let’s talk about little s saints. Tomorrow is the celebration of my mom’s 100th birthday. We had a typical Mom-daughter relationship. She was very outspoken in her views, and I was nothing like her. My brother had even convinced me that I was adopted. I thought I looked nothing like her, she was taller until the end, darker hair, and complexion, but then I got my hair cut from midback to pixie. There was my mom! I swore I didn’t act like her, well ask Dave I do have her stubborn streak just a slower fuse, but it does get lit. She taught me to love God and the earth. She was a great gardener and had a fantastic green thumb (mine not so much). Though I brought her and my father to the Episcopal Church, she loved it, became regularly active, in attendance and service on the vestry. Even as Alzheimer’s claimed her mind, she liked church especially the quiet 8 am service. There are many more little saints in my life as I’m sure there are in yours. Why do we study saints? Well, they are like the scriptures we read today. Saints are also like icons. They point to Jesus, God. The Ten Commandments show us how to live in relationship to God and to others. In Philippians, Paul talks about how he has tried to live a righteous life but that he was able to learn and change becoming more open to the marginalized and outsiders following Jesus. Then we have Matthew, the third vineyard parable on as many Sundays. Jesus talks of temporary tenants who through greed ignore all others trying to keep it all for themselves. Not sharing the abundance like the leaders who ignore those in need. St Francis embraces all these precepts. He wanted people to focus on the teachings of Jesus and not get wrapped up in power ignoring the marginalized. So, what saints you feel close to, St Francis, St Peter or your grandmother who taught you to love Jesus and your neighbor. Keep your eye on Jesus and His way. But realize even saints were not perfect. St Peter denies Jesus, my mother loved all kinds of people, but she was a woman who was raised to see race as an issue, love them but not too closely. So, take the parts of your saints that point to Jesus. Like St Francis’ simple rule, follow Jesus’ path. Let us say together the Peace Prayer based on St Francis’ beliefs.
- August 30, 2026 Sermon
Pentecost 14 (A) – Proper 17
Penny Sites/Kelsey Bullinger
Say Yes
Peter says it can’t happen: Jesus can’t be allowed to die.
Mind you, this challenge to Jesus follows right after the passage we heard together last week, in which Peter totally gets the question right when Jesus asks him, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter proclaims that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus says, that’s right. That’s who I am. I am the Son of God—and I will die.
And Peter says it can’t happen.
In the Neil Gaiman novel Good Omens, the end of the world is ushered in by the birth of the anti-Christ, as foretold by Agnes Nutter, a 16th century witch. It’s a great book, like most of Neil Gaiman’s work, well researched, poignant, hilarious, and now available as a series on Amazon Prime.
In the story, four people come from the four corners of the world to find each other. They are the four horsemen of the apocalypse: There’s War, a fiery haired woman who flies in from a war zone somewhere in the world. Then there’s Famine, a man who, at the time of the apocalypse, is making his money selling food that isn’t really food. Then there’s Pollution, a dark-haired woman who has stepped in for the apocalypse after the retirement of Pestilence.
We have to forgive Neil Gaiman for thinking that pestilence, or disease, wasn’t a threat anymore. He wrote Good Omens in 1990, thirty years before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Three of the four horsemen of the apocalypse ride into the town in which the witch predicted Armageddon would take place. Pollution, Famine, and War all ride motorcycles and arrive looking for the fourth horseman: Death.
Arriving in all black, Death opens his helmet to reveal that his face is just bones.
One of the others sneers, “Where have you been?”
Death answers, “I never left.”
Of all the Bible’s greatest enemies, Death is the most real to us, the most relevant to our lives. It indeed has never left. It has been with all of us from the very beginning and long, long before any of us was born.
In the Bible, Death is the last enemy to be destroyed. Death is the opposite of life. And death is everywhere, striking all the time.
Death strikes this week, as wars rage and terror strikes around the world.
Death strikes this week, in every tragedy that made the news.
Death struck this week, in every state in the nation, and all around the world, when families received the unexpected news that a loved one had died, in untold tragedies that didn’t make the news.
Death never left.
We don’t like to think about Death. We push it away. Which why some part of us understands exactly why Peter says what he says in this Gospel lesson. His beloved friend and teacher, Jesus—the one he left everything to follow—tells them that he will suffer and die.
As Matthew tells it, Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.”
We may find ourselves thinking, and rightly so: “Who would dare to rebuke the Son of God? Bad move.”
But it turns out that the more you live, and the more death you see, the more you get exactly why Peter says what he says here. I think most of us, maybe all of us, if we were in Peter’s shoes, would’ve said the exact same thing.
“I left everything for you! I love you! You’ve brought meaning to my life that I never knew before. What on God’s green earth would I DO if you died?”
It’s easy to forget, when we read these stories, that Peter didn’t know the ending. All he knew was what he knew. And he knew that death was—is—a permanent condition. If Jesus died, as Peter saw it, then that was it. Sure, Jesus talked about resurrection, but hearing about something miraculous is very different than seeing it for yourself.
So Peter takes him aside and says this just can’t happen.
Jesus answers with his famous call for the disciples to take up their cross and follow him. Again, we risk missing the meaning here. The cross has come to have a special meaning in our lives, in Christian culture, and in the culture at large. The cross doesn’t mean to us now what it did then, before Jesus ever hung on one.
Back then, the cross was an instrument of torture, fear, and death. To take up a cross was to meet Death, face to face.
But we do know the end of this story. We know what Peter doesn’t know: That death will come for Jesus, that that won’t be the end.
Death never left, but Death doesn’t get the final word.
The worst thing that can happen is never the last thing. Faith may die on Friday, but it rises again every Sunday—and that is why we are here in church.
Peter says it can’t happen. Jesus says, Get Behind Me, Satan, because Jesus knows what comes after death comes.
“I am here,” Jesus says, “and Death no longer has the final word.”
None of us can say “No” to death.
Jesus reminds us that though we cannot say “No” to Death, we can say “Yes” to resurrection, “Yes” to Life—because with all of the world’s horror comes all its beauty, too.
William Stafford wrote a poem called Yes. It goes like this.
It could happen any time, tornado,
earthquake, Armageddon. It could happen.
Or sunshine, love, salvation.
It could, you know. That’s why we wake
and look out––no guarantees
in this life.
But some bonuses, like morning,
like right now, like noon,
like evening.Death will come.
But so will sunshine, love, salvation.
And Jesus will come here with us—in bread and wine and water and words and us.
Jesus, over whom Death did not win, here with us forever: in morning, in right now, in noon, in evening. And in the darkest night of your life.
Jesus reminds us that it will happen. But Death does not have the last word.
You can say yes, unafraid. Amen.
Anna Tew is a Lutheran (ELCA) pastor serving Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she has served for a full decade. Originally from Alabama, she went to seminary at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. Anna enjoys being outdoors: hiking, running, snowboarding, and many other pursuits. She is also a Level 2 CrossFit coach and enjoys training herself and helping people with all types of bodies to be strong, resilient, and ready for a challenge.
- August 9, 2026 Sermon
Proper 14, 11th Sun after Pentecost
Mother Christina Cernansky
I speak to you in the name of Source, God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, mother of us all.
One of my favorite, most memorable movie scenes as a child is of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Do I have any fans? Bear with me as I nerd out with you this am.
In this movie, the third in the series, the main character, played by Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, or Indy, has to find the fastest way to the “Holy Grail” to save his father, who some bad guys shot. There are a handful of obstacles and challenges that test his knowledge of the Christian faith. His Father, also a scholar, kept a journal of clues to help him find the “Holy Grail”.
There is a great 5-minute clip if you want to get a recap, as I did to prepare for this sermon.
These obstacles are tied to clues from Indy’s father’s journal. There are three obstacles: 1- the breath of God, 2- the Word of God, and 3- the Path of God.
The first segment, Breath of God, is where we need to kneel in front of God to show humility, trusting God is present; the clue here is: “Only the penitent man shall pass.” This obstacle has giant saws come from different angles so that if you don’t kneel…;
The second, Word of God, is knowing how to spell Jevohah, and the clue is: “Follow the path of God.” Ok, side note here: (spoiler alert: it starts with an I; the ancient Latin alphabet did not have the letter “J”. In classical and medieval Latin, the sound we now associate with the letter “J” was written using the letter “I”). So this second obstacle is to teach us to know the word and understand the word. I like to think of this as having critical thinking skills when reading scripture. Indy is to step on stones with letters; a foundation lies beneath the correct letters. H first stepped on “J” but quickly corrected course after nearly falling through a gaping hole, then got up and started with the letter “I”.
Lastly, the path of God to walk with faith, the clue in his father’s journal is: “A leap from the lion’s head.” Indy looks over a gorge, a canyon, and sees the path across the gorge. But how shall he walk over? He blindly stepped out into nothing, but then…he steps onto a pathway that is so camouflaged you can barely see it.
Here, Indy is fighting against his mind’s beliefs about his current environment and his heart and soul, but his connection with God must override his mind.
You get where I am going here….
Throughout my life, I have returned to that image of walking blindly, relying on my faith to move forward without certainty. Without any confirmation that this is the right path. To trust that something is bigger at play here. To trust that I might feel alone, that I might be making the wrong decision, or that the decision might be hard, but knowing that I am not alone and all will be well…and that is having faith.
Peter also knows this; he gets it, he has seen and experienced miracles, time and time again. His faith has been put to the test, yet, through it all, he knows he can trust the teachings of Jesus.
But here we are again, dear Peter, who is doubting, needing proof, needing an explanation, needing more. Sound familiar?
We are in a new Chapter at All Saints; we get to walk together in faith into this next phase of our discernment. I joined your team for at least a couple of years, if not longer. Fr. Joseph is on sabbatical for the next three months; we have the vestry discerning paths to take after our last annual meeting, where we created our parish’s mission and vision.
We can take a page from Peter’s (and Indy’s) blind faith and humility. To sit with the word, to be humble in our actions, and to come together in community on this path. We can heed the call from Paul’s letter to the Romans: “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.”
The vestry has been talking with many of you about your ministries and how to deepen our community connections and our connections with one another.
We will be holding adult education forums this fall on Wednesdays & Sundays to help us deepen our understanding of our faith and the church’s mission. I made some flyers for those of you who might be considering joining us, even if you haven’t before. Maybe we can break bread together on Wednesdays beforehand?
Peter’s decision to join his teacher, to trust him, to take that first step is a testament to his faith.
So I invite you to do the same. I invite you to pray, to discern, reach within, and reach inside the parish walls and outside the walls: what is the Holy Spirit calling us to do? What is the Holy Spirit calling us to be part of here on the bench? Here in the Treasure Valley, in the world?
And I will quote Jesus here, if we might be ambivalent, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
BCP: 817 Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for this parish family. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.